Walker is healthy, but she wants the peace of mind to know she will die with dignity.

“I go to a seniors’ home in Carnduff every night and these ladies are lying there in these geri chairs and they don’t know anybody, they get no visitors, they’re fed by somebody else — I do not want to end up like that,” Walker said. “Why shouldn’t I be able to plan now, while my brain is still functioning properly. Why not?

“I’m not saying I want to die tomorrow. But I think we, as citizens, should have the right to decide before we have Alzheimer’s or dementia.”

Walker was upset to learn Wednesday that she doesn’t have that option.

She was among more than 100 people attending a Regina conference on MAID by the Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism.

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Kevin Fenwick, former Saskatchewan deputy minister of justice and one of the presenters, described MAID as a “developing and complicated area.”

Fenwick explained the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in February 2015 that parts of the Criminal Code prohibiting medical assistance in dying be struck down to satisfy the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The feds were given until June 6, 2016 to create a new law, but got an extension. The new law was passed on June 17, 2016.

“The legislation gives dying patients who are suffering intolerably from a serious medical condition the choice of a medically-assisted death,” Fenwick said.

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He added: “The natural death has to be reasonably foreseeable.”

Other eligibility conditions include: people must be 18 or older and mentally competent; be eligible for health services funded by a provincial or the federal government so Canada is not a destination for medical tourism; have a grievous and irremediable medical condition, make a voluntary request that isn’t the result of outside pressure and give informed consent.

Consequently, physicians, nurse practitioners and those who help them — such as pharmacists — won’t be charged with homicide.

There are two types of medical assistance in dying.

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A physician or nurse practitioner can directly administer a substance that causes the death of the person requesting it, or they can give or prescribe a substance to patients that will cause their death.

Fenwick noted that a number of safeguards prevent abuse of the provisions.

“There has to be a request for medical assistance in dying in writing made by the patient, or, in certain circumstances, another adult on the patient’s behalf — for example, if the patient cannot write,” he said. “The medical request has to be witnessed by two witnesses.”

The request can be reversed at any time.

Furthermore, a doctor or nurse practitioner must determine if a person is eligible.

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“At this stage, a second physician or nurse practitioner needs to provide a written opinion confirming that the patient is eligible for medical assistance in dying,” Fenwick said.

The two medical opinions must be independent of each other and of the patient. There is also a 10-day cooling off period.

Prior to assisting a person to die, the doctor or nurse must verbally confirm the decision with the patient in case there has been a change of mind.

Advance requests for MAID are not permitted, he said.

“Canadians with diagnoses of competence-eroding conditions, like Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease, will not be granted the right to consent while they are still of sound mind to insist that death would be carried out at a later time,” Fenwick said.

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The Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan supports that decision.

People with dementia can live a long time and their values and beliefs may change as they progress through the disease, said Joanne Bracken, CEO of the Alzheimer Society.

“Before you have Alzheimer’s disease, you’re expressing opinions on a disease that you don’t currently have and so it’s your perception of what may happen throughout the course of the disease,” Bracken said. “The disease is very unique and it’s very individual, and it’s difficult to predict what may happen.

“It’s often based on fear. It’s based on the stigma that currently exists around the disease … It is possible to live well with the disease.”

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